Beaver’s Pond Press has published Beavers Away!, a children’s book written and illustrated by Jennifer Lovett, MS Environmental Studies ‘14. Based on a true story about Elmo Heter, a game warden for Idaho Fish and Game, Beavers Away! chronicles his effort in the 1950s to relocate beavers who had become a nuisance to a remote area in Idaho where their activity would be beneficial to the habitat. The plan had a major obstacle: The beavers’ destination was not accessible by road.
He devised a plan to safely reintroduce beavers into the area by parachuting them from the sky. Ultimately, the relocated beavers were able to quickly restore the eroded and barren landscape and create lush habitat that provided food and shelter for many other types of animals. Nearly seventy years later, the story of Elmo Heter and a beaver named Geronimo is particularly significant, highlighting the importance of protecting and conserving wetlands to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Lovett, a former art museum curator and art teacher, is a conservation biologist who lives in Stamford, Vermont with her family. She learned about the amazing true story of Idaho’s parachuting beavers while working on her master’s degree in environmental studies with a concentration in conservation biology at Antioch University New England. Her research led her to the topic of her master’s thesis, The Role of North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) in the Mitigation of Climate Change: A Literature Review and a Book for Young Readers.
“This rousing story reminds us that beavers are not just the animal world’s great engineers but its great environmentalists, busy building buzzing wetlands season after season,” said Bill McKibben, noted educator, environmentalist, and author of Wandering Home, The End of Nature, The Global Warming Reader, and many other books about the environment. “I’ve lived near beavers my whole life, and few sounds make me happier than that slap of tail on water; this book will make you happy too, I think.”
Written for students in grades 5 to 6, Beaver’s Away!, will also interest others, as well as younger children.
The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals praises Beavers Away! as “a charming book that will provide youth – and even adults – insight into creative thinking, the spectacular eco-engineering of beavers, and the importance of ecological protection.”
Beavers Away! can be purchased from Itasca Books , Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Water Street Books and Where Did You Get That? in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
